Best is yet to
come in agriculture sector: PM
Amid concerns over inflation in agricultural items, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh on Saturday sought suggestions from economic experts for a
solution as he asserted that the "best is yet to come" in the sector.
The issue came up during an interaction Singh had with members of the
prestigious National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) Centre where
he was told by some of them that inflation was a result of farming cost which
has gone up by 20 per cent in the last 4-5 years on account of MNREGA and
regular hike in MSP, sources said.
The meeting with members of the NCAER, an institute with which Singh was
associated for about six years from 1976, saw a detailed discussion on the
agriculture sector amid concerns over rising prices of the farm produce.
Singh made it clear
that the government had to undertake the programmes, like MNREGA, and raise MSP
to empower people at the lowest strata of the society.
He asked the
economists to suggest solutions to bring down prices while keeping this aspect
in mind as he contended that "the best is yet to come" in the sector.
Sources noted that
due to schemes like rural job guarantee programme and hikes in MSP, the per
capita income in rural areas has shown a substantial improvement.
In his address to
NCAER members, the Prime Minister said "the purpose of the study of
economics is not to provide settled answers to unsettled and difficult
questions, but sometimes to warn economists and the world-at-large, how not to
be misled by clever governments".
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